M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by Naspers.The channel offers a mix of general entertainment, children's programmes, sports and movies, most of which are acquired from overseas but some are also locally produced. While the TV signal is generally encrypted, M-Net showed some programmes 'free to air' in its "Open Time" slot between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., until the slot closed on 1 April 2007. In the early 1990s, M-Net added a second analog channel called Community Services Network (CSN), and began digital broadcasting via satellite to the rest of Africa, via its sister company MultiChoice.With the introduction of MultiChoice's multi-channel digital satellite TV service, DStv, in 1995, several different channels have been created to complement the original M-Net terrestrial channel.M-Net launched its subscription based Web TV service in August 2005 under the name KuduClub. The service operated in unison with the premiere of the Idols South Africa 3 series. The service hosts all of its channels described above, excluding DStv, plus exclusive content.The idea of a pay-TV network in South Africa came to life in the mid-1980s, when Nasionale Pers (Naspers) - headed by executive Koos Bekker a?? started to promote the idea to the country's other three largest media corporations: Times Media Ltd (now Avusa/BDFM), Argus (now the Independent Group) and Perskor (which is now defunct). The newspapers and magazines published by Naspers had lost a lot of advertising revenue to the SABC after the arrival of television and for this reason, according to some sources, the National Party government wanted Naspers to run its own television network. Initially, the plan was for M-Net to be jointly owned by the four media corporations, with the Natal Witness also having a small share in the station. However, as time went on, the project became that of Naspers only.

(Visited 9 times, 1 visits today)

Koos Bekker Latest News

Like Cape Town’s rainfall or Malaysian Airlines flight 370, Koos Bekker has gone missing. I do not know when the Naspers chairman was last spotted in public, but presumably he is alive and lucid and wilfully ignoring the scandal now engulfing MultiChoice.

JOHANNESBURG - The fight between former communications minister Yunus Carrim and Naspers boss Koos Bekker reached boiling point on Friday. In an interview on eNCA, Carrim challenged Bekker to an open debate over the encryption of set top boxes.

JOHANNESBURG - Naspers chair Koos Bekker says he doesn't see anything untoward with regards the R100 million deal involving the SABC but will investigate anyway. The Democratic Alliance revealed this week that minutes of an SABC board meeting show that ...